Classmate Biographies – early

These biographies came in earlier and have been archived on this page
to allow for others to be posted on the Classmate Biography page.

John W. Coleman

	What have I been doing for the last 50 years? – That question makes one stop and reflect, but I guess I could summarize and say that it's been a lot of work, play and a time to enjoy the blessings of family and friends. I graduated from Memphis University in 1960 and took an offer with Shell Oil in the Marketing Division in St Louis, MO and was later transferred to Tulsa Okla. In
1963, I returned to Memphis and began a 40 year career in the financial services  industry with American General Insurance Co – now AIG - American General.  I held a variety of positions in 5 different American General Companies in locations including Des Moines, IA, Jacksonville Fl (twice), Richmond VA and ending up in Nashville, ( Brentwood) TN. After retiring a few years ago I played golf for several months but decided I needed another career--this time in real estate and am now enjoying a great career with Realty Executives Fine Homes in Brentwood – and still find time for golf, tennis and family. My life has been blessed with my wife Shirley, 3 children and 7 grandchildren.

I look forward to the reunion and to the opportunity to renew those great high school friendships – can't believe it's been 50 years. Thank you for the information and invitation. My wife and I do plan to attend.

Jim (I was Jimmy back then) Webb

I was so very pleased to receive the mailing about the '56 Reunion of Central High School. I have so often wondered what happened to so many friends. Thanks to the Reunion Committee, perhaps I can now find out. I am definitely planning to attend.

	Much to the surprise of many of you (and certainly to the amazement and disbelief of most of my teachers) I ended up becoming something of an academic. After CHS, I attended Rhodes (then Southwestern), and then went to the University of Alabama where I got my doctorate in Clinical Psychology. After a couple of years in New Jersey working for a pharmaceutical company (Roche), I accepted a graduate faculty
position at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio where I stayed for five years. Then I moved to Dayton, Ohio where I helped found the School of Professional Psychology. While there, I became very interested in gifted and talented children and their families, and started a program called SENG (Supporting Emotional Needs of Gifted) that is now its own nonprofit organization http://www.sengifted.org .

In 1995, Ohio offered old codger professors an "early retirement buyout." I took the money and ran, moving to Phoenix, Arizona, where I started a small publishing company called Great Potential Press (www.giftedbooks.com) to publish books for parents and teachers of gifted and talented children. I also have written a few books, including one for grandparents of gifted children. So, I'm still working, though I'll probably truly retire in another three to five years.

When I'm not working, I usually am flying an old airplane (1963 Piper Comanche) or playing with grandchildren. My wife and I have six daughters and eight grandchildren.

It's been quite a ride since the days at CHS. I look back on those times with great fondness, and I can hardly wait to catch up on your life stories as well. I'll probably impose on my wife to come, too. After all, she needs to know what life was really like back in Memphis in the 1950s – at least at Central High!

I'll see you there!

Let's keep going, and maybe we can celebrate our 75th reunion.

Carolyn Elizabeth Mullins Benson

What a surprise to find that I was a missing warrior. However, Carolyn (Mullins) Benson is alive and well and living in Albuquerque, New Mexico. After graduating from Memphis State, now the University of Memphis, I taught one year at Willow Oaks elementary school in Memphis and in Denver, Colorado for five years before moving to Europe to teach children of the American military. During the eighteen years spent in England and Germany, I earned my Masters in Educational Sociology, traveled throughout Europe and visited Russia, Kenya, Morocco, Indonesia, Malaysia, Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, and Bangkok.
 
On a trip to Paris, I met my husband, Lawrence Robert Benson (Larry); we celebrated our 25th anniversary this year. He retired early in 2000 as an Air Force historian and is currently awaiting publication of a biography of Dr. John McLucas (former Secretary of the Air Force, former head of the Federal Aviation Administration, and National Reconnaissance Office) that he co-authored. We returned stateside in 1984, living in San Antonio, Texas, Alexandria, Virginia, and Albuquerque. In Texas, I taught English as a second language to Puerto Rican Army lieutenants and a Somali general (not at the same time), in New Mexico, I edited classified documents for the Defense Nuclear Agency and in Washington DC, I worked in the Air Force Publication Office. In 2000, I retired as a Legislative Liaison Specialist, working in the Senate Liaison Office. We still travel, enjoy hiking in the foothills, cross country skiing (whenever we get snow) and reading.
 
I can’t believe that fifty years have gone by since we sat in study hall of the third floor, overlooking the old stadium. Thanks go to the intrepid planners of the reunion. I am looking forward to seeing old friends.
 
Please Email Your bios

Classmate Biographies will be continually updated as people share the events/activities in their lives. Please feel free to write a short message
or email them to me Billy Schaefer. Don’t worry about how they are written. If something needs editing, it can be. And if you so desire, send a digital photo.